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(2)Kazuma Kiryu vs (15)Bomberman 2018
Ulti's Analysis It's very rare when you can look at a 2/15 match and immediately pick the 15 seed without thinking, yet here we were. This is because before this match, the only 15 seed to ever beat a 2 was The Boss beating Nathan Drake back in 2010. That was a 12 hour match that went 52-48, too, so I imagine some people put an asterisk on that one. I know we had some 4ways and 3ways and some contests with dumb 1-8 division seeding instead of 1-16, but I can only work with what I got. The point here is these Yazuka characters that got into the field this contest are simultaneously the most unknown, overrated, and overseeded characters we've ever had. The best job a 15 seed had ever done until this was a 52-48 match. All the others easily lost. Yet Bomberman, a fodder character whose only contest win ever came against a TV set (this seriously actually happened, I kid you not: http://www.gamefaqscontests.com/gallery/albums/sc2k2/sum02b21.jpg) went out there and damn near got 61% against a 2 seed. It wasn't because Bomberman is strong, either. It's because Yazuka is gutter trash. Every contest we get some recent casualbait characters to serve as the opening round punching bags. Sometimes those characters are from Grand Theft Auto. Sometimes they're from Call of Duty and you get a match picture with a swamp thing in it. Sometimes they're from Uncharted or a random games contest has a sports title in it. Well in this contest, where we saw nothing from Grand Theft Auto make the biggest field we've ever had, that was Yazuka. Good lord. Who nominated these people to such high seeds? That's why the Kefka/L-Block match was so huge, Neither of these dudes had a chance of beating either one of them, and then who knows. Shout out to Bomberman and the 2002 contest, by the way. Nice seeing those old characters get some shine. Lightning Strikes' Analysis What happened?: Bet you never thought you'd see Bomberman 60/40 someone! Kiryu is a character that has been around for a while, but along with his series has had a recent surge in popularity. He got a high seed with a heavy board effort, but would have been here anyway, Yakuza's a fairly big deal now. Not big enough however, and Bomberman won an unspectacular match. What could this mean?: I'm pretty convinced now that Bomberman is the perfect fodder line character. He has the apathy factor Pac-Man does but is not as strong or significant. To put this into some perspective, Pac-Man got to be playable in Smash and Bomberman's an assist trophy. And Kiryu is fodder. He might build strength over time but for now he's quite weak. 2002 excluded, is he the weakest 2-seed ever? He has to be up there. At least he looked better than Kane. Also Majima might be the true weakest character in the bracket, look out for that. Finally, shout out to the casuals for not getting fooled on this one. They're having a good year for sure. Safer777's Analysis Yakuza is an awesome series. But I don't understand how Kazuma got a 2 seed. Seriously? We don't play games after 2005 here! As for Bomberman he is an icon of the really old times. But guess what. Just guess. He is in SMASH! Need to say more? Of course he won. Now I believe he would win even if he weren't there. If you are above a certain age you have played a Bomberman game. You just have. Still nice to see an icon of old days to grab a win even against an awesome character like Kazuma. The prediction percentage though seems to be in the middle. Helps that Kazuma had the highest seeding too. But man not even 40% from the 2 seed on the first match too? Overseeding at it's finest. Tsunami's Analysis This was a tough loss to take, because I initially had Bomberman solely on recognizability before remembering that he's Bomberman and has never been worth anything, and no way he's going to upset someone who got a 2-seed without Board 8's support. Oops. Wrong on all accounts. Yakuza was a Board 8 creation, which alone would've been enough for me to stick with my instincts, but Bomberman... honestly hasn't been that bad! He's had a tendency to get tough opening draws, hence his only prior win being against a TV, but... http://board8.wikia.com/wiki/Bomberman_vs_Crash_Bandicoot_vs_Phoenix_Wright_vs_Magus_2007 Yeah. Phoenix may have been a lot weaker then than he is now, but that's still 43.64% on Magus, 49.93% on Phoenix, and 52.91% on Crash. And we'd already seen Crash this contest, so it's no surprise that anyone in the know--which is to say, almost everyone but me--picked Bomberman in the Oracle. Kiryu had over 25% of Gurus, but only about 9.2% of Oracle picks. Category:2018 Contest Matches